Lilium ‘Regale’

The Original Trumpet, Parent of the Entire Family

Created a huge sensation when introduced in England in 1903.

Every garden deserves the Regal Lily, parent of all the modern Trumpet hybrids but never improved upon in beauty or fragrance. These giant 5 1/2-inch trumpets open from long, purple-and-white striped buds to reveal a gleaming white-and-yellow interior boasting the most intoxicating scent in all the plant world. If you’ve got 18 inches of sunny garden space left anywhere, please sink this bulb into it!Reaching 5 feet tall, this plant sets huge candelabra of blooms in early and midsummer, exquisite for cutting and so fragrant they perfume not only your garden but your neighbor’s. A single bloom is a bouquet; a fully-blooming plant is a preview of paradise.

The Regal Lily was discovered by the great Victorian plant hunter E. H. Wilson, who was so eager to reach it that he tumbled down a sharp slope in China, permanently injuring himself. For the rest of his life, he affectionately referred to this as his “”lily limp,”" and he certainly agreed with the consensus that it was well worth a little pain to bring this Lily back! When he introduced it in London in 1903, it created a sensation, and as new gardeners discover it for themselves each season, that sensation is echoed.L.’Regale’ was given an Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticulture Society, and remains the easiest of all white Lilies to grow. Its merits are endless, If you are not already growing the Regal Lily, please add it this season.

Zones 3-8.